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Niners tight end Justin Peelle often works out with his good friend and former teammate Drew Brees in the offseason in San Diego.

In 2012, Peelle will meet up with his pal a little sooner than usual after Brees led the Saints to a 45-28 win over the visiting Lions in an NFC wild-card game tonight. With the victory, New Orleans will visit San Francisco on Saturday in a divisional playoff game at Candlestick Park.

As Peelle noted Friday, Brees’ standards are ridiculously high, but he’s come close to meeting them this season. On Saturday, Brees completed 33 of 43 passes for 466 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions . The Saints trailed 14-10 at halftime before Brees threw touchdowns 41, 3 and 56 yards in the second half. New Orleans, which didn’t punt, set an NFL postseason record with 626 yards.

It was a continuation of a regular season in which Brees set NFL records for completions (468), passing yards (5,476) and broke his own record for completion percentage (71.2). The Saints established a league record with 7,474 offensive yards.

“He’s a perfectionist and he’s got this incredible drive,” said Peelle, who played with Brees with the Chargers from 2002-05. “That’s the type of person that he is and that’s the type of quarterback he is. Being in the system for so long with coach Payton out in New Orleans, he just knows everything. And he’s so smart.”

The heartening news for the Niners is that Brees – and his team – is less imposing away from the Superdome. New Orleans improved to 9-0 at home this season with tonight’s win, but is 5-3 on the road.

In the regular season, Brees threw 29 touchdowns, six interceptions and posted a 122.4 rating at home. On the road, he had a 17-8 touchdown-to-interception ratio and a 100.7 rating.

Goodwin should know. He played with Brees in New Orleans from 2006-10.

“He sees just about everything,” Goodwin said. “He reads defenses like it’s a piece of cake. He’s one of the most accurate quarterbacks that I’ve ever seen … He knows where to go with the ball and he’s accurate. That’s a tough combination.”

Brees will enter Saturday’s game on a streak in which he’s reeled off eight straight 100-yard games while throwing 28 touchdowns and three interceptions. As Goodwin said, he’s “playing out of this world.”

So would Goodwin rather not face his old teammate in the playoffs? On Friday, Goodwin, one of two Niners with a Super Bowl ring, smiled and laughed when asked the question.

“There’s no easy way to the Super Bowl,” Goodwin said. “No matter who you play next week, the following week is going to be somebody tough. There’s no easy road.”